Charles
Greenlief Ayres of New YorkAppointed from New York, Second Lieutenant,
25th United States Infantry, 31 October 1874Transferred to 10th United States Cavalry,
18 September 1875First Lieutenant, 21 December 1882Captain, January 1892Major, 8th United States Cavalry, 29 April
1901He was born in 1854 and died in 1909.
He is buried with his wife, Mary Elizabeth Fairfax Ayres (1859-1909), his
son, Henry Fairfax Ayres, Lieutenant Colonel,
United States Army (1885-1979) and his Father,
Romeyn
Beck Ayres, Major General, United States Army, in Section 2 of Arlington
National Cemetery.

COLONEL C. G. AYRESDIES SUDDENLY AT HOMEThe Son Of A FamousGeneral, He Himself Won
A Bravery Record In Spanish WarForced Out Of The ArmyRetired For Disability After Defending His
Wife In Her Quarrel With West Point Authorities

NEW YORK, September 26, 1909 - Lieuetnant Colonel
Charles Greenlief Ayres, United States Army, retired, died at his home,
36 West Fifty-ninth Street, early yesterday morning. Colonel Ayres, it
was said, had not been in good health for a long time, but his death was
unexpected. Colonel Ayres was 55 years old and had been living in New York
since his retirement from active service by a retiring board in July 1907.

Colonel Ayres was commissioned a Second Lieutenant
in the Regular Army by President Grant in 1874 and was assigned to the
Twenty-fifth Colored Infantry, and later transferred to the Tenth Cavalry,
another colored regiment, with which he served with distinction in the
Spanish War, being one of the officers in command of that regiment in the
battle of Santiago. He was three times recommended for bravery and was
personaly commended by President McKinley and Secretary of War Alger.

General Romeyn Ayres, who opposed General Longstreet
at Little Round Top in the battle of Gettysburg, was Colonel Ayres' father.
In Longstreet's command in that battle was Colonel John W. Fairfax of Virginia,
whose daughter Elizabeth became the wife of Colonel Ayres. Colonel Ayres'
great-grandfather was General Henry Dearborn, one of Washington's staff
officers.

After the Spanish War Colonel Ayres in due
course was ordered to the Philippines, returning to the United States in
1907 to find his wife the central figure in a West Point controversy.
Mrs. Ayres said that on her return from the Philippines she had hastened
to West Point to visit her son, who was a cadet at the Academy. She said
that on her arrival there she learned that he was being punished by Lieutenant
Colonel Robert Lee Howze, the commandant, because as she said, her son
"had addressed a plebe in front of him on parade." There was also some
difficulty over the fact that several young women visiting West Point had
wore the cadet's overcoats on dress parade. Mrs. Ayres became involved
in the dispute also, and it resulted in an order by Colonel Howze that
in the future the cadets must not lend their overcoats to young women.

Colonel Ayres on his arrival in the country,
hurried toWest Pointand took up the cudgels in his wife's behalf.
The affair came to a head when an order was issued by theWar Department
that Mrs. Aytres was not to be permitted within the West Point reservation
without the permission of the proper authorities. The letter forbiding
Mrs. Ayres to visit the reservation was addressed to Colonel Ayres and
is said to have borne the signature of the Secretary of War, then William
H. Taft. Mrs. Ayres described the letter as "insulting and despicable."

The month following the issuance of the Taft
order Colonel Ayres was ordered before a retirng board in this city of
which Brigadier General Davis was the President and Surgeon Major Edie
and Surgeon Captain Wadhams the medical members. Colonel Ayres faced the
board, which met in the Army Building in Whitehall Street, and made a determined
effort to retain his commission in the active service. Major Edie and Captain
Wadhams, after exhamining Colonel Ayres, said he was suffering from
a form of Bright's Disease and declared that it would be at the risk of
his life if he were permitted to remain in the army on active duty. Colonel
Ayres was thereupon put on the retired list.

The funeral services will be held this afternoon
at 4 o'clock and later the body will be taken on a private car to Washington
where the interment will take place in Arlington National Cemetery.
The Rev. Anson P. Atterbury will officiate at the services. There will
be an escort of the Loyal Legionand the Sons of the Revolution.

The honorary military pallbearers as selected
by the family will include Colonel Quincy O. Gilman; Major General Leonard
Wood, General T. C. Lebo, General Winfield Scott
Edgerly and Major General Charles H. Humphrey. The civilian pallbearers
will include August Heckscher, Edwaqrd H. Beecher, Charles D. Stickney,
H. H. Landon, Lewis Nixon and David H. King.

WASHINGTON, September 28, 1909 - With the full
military honors due his rank, the body of Colonel Charles Greenlief Ayres,
U.S.A., retired, was buried late this afternoon in Arlington National Cemetery.
The funeral party bringing the body from New York was met at the Union
Station by a squadron of Cavalry from Fort Myer. The body was placed on
a caisson and with the military band from the Fort at the head of the procession,
was taken through to the Cemetery. The brief religious ceremony at the
Cemetery was conducted by Chaplain W. W. Brander.
AYRES, CHARLES GUnited States ArmyVETERAN SERVICE DATES: UnknownDATE OF DEATH: 09/26/1909DATE OF INTERMENT: UnknownBURIED AT: SECTION 1 SITE 12ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY